A perfect meal for a cold, winter's evening, and as chance had it---a perfect lunch for a beautiful spring day (the weather here has been a bit funky).I got the idea for making ox tail stew from Elise's Simply Recipes site. I adore combing through her archives with a napkin in hand to catch the drool.

When we were at Costco last week, they had double-packs of ox tail. I used one package and froze the other.

This meal took two days to prepare. I didn't start the crockpot until noon, since we were out and about running errands. When the meat was still tough at dinner time, we ate leftovers and popped the entire stoneware insert into the refrigerator. The next morning, I scraped a layer of icky fat from the top of the dish, held my breath and cooked it all on low for another 10 hours.so worth the wait.so very worth the wait.

I ended up cooking this on high for 5 hours on the first day and then let it cool overnight. The next morning there was a thick layer of congealed fat on top. I wish I had taken a picture. It was really gross. I was scared.

I then cooked it on low for another 10 hours.

If you are not going to do this in two steps, I'd recommend cooking it on low for as long as you can. Probably 14-20 hours...

The Verdict.

I really enjoyed this, and while the chocolate probably didn't add too awful much, it made me feel creative and adventurous to have it in there.

My children really liked this; we chopped all the meat off in their bowl. I preferred gnawing on the bones like a hungry animal.

Ox Tail?!?! I've never had such a thing. You can bet I'll be checking my grocery store for it on my next trip. What other random animal parts do you like to throw into stews?!?! Like Robyn, I've used chocolate in chili. It gives it that Cincinatti taste. I'll have to start considering chocolate as an ingredient in more dishes.

grandtheory, it's the actual tail bone from a steer. It's really delicious. Evidentally it used to be a cheap meat saved for stews and lean times, but had gotten popular over the years in fancier cooking. It was not expensive at costco, although I don't have my receipt any more.

kim, it was easy! and yummy!

chic girl, I am just now convincing my kids that the food all gets jumbled in their bellies no matter how it looks on their plates.it's a tough battle, I tell you.

I'm a crockpot late boomer. I bought one last year and then let it sit for 6 months. Used it once during the winter to prove to myself that I didn't waste my money and I've been hooked ever since. I picked up ox tails and wondered if it was possible to cook it in the crockpot. Behold your recipe! It was absolutely delicous.

When I can prise my son away from his computer I just know he will be looking for an eating buddy like you. He has his bucket of pasta in one bowl and his tablespoon of spaghetti sauce in a separate bowl. We now call the dish Spaghetti AND Bolognese. He likes everything raw except his pasta and chicken, which he eats buckets of, separately. Sound promising for a match?...........

Where did I go wrong. Oh yes - after sitting at the table for 3 hours because I wouldn't eat my mashed swede, I decided I would not do that to my children.

I must have done something right however. One offspring eats Thai, English, etc. But one will need a companion who understands his oddity!

Judy

PS VERY IMPORTANT to prepare over two days, and skim off the fat when cold, before reheating slowly again.

I made a few modifications that might help - I boiled the oxtails first: helps tenderize and clarify. I let the broth cool to skim the fat.

Meanwhile I preped the veggies.

I braised the oxtails to give them good color, transfered to the crock pot and seasoned with your spices. After, I deglazed the skillet with the white cooking wine and added the sauce to the crock pot.

I added the veggies and used the ox broth instead of beef broth.

I added a little corn starch in the end to thicken the sauce, and garnished with thinly sliced green onion.

Yay! I know I'm late to the party, but I'm so VERY happy to have found your blog. Was under "house arrest" for mumps all week, couldn't swallow anything, and needed recipes for anything but Jello left in my pantry. You came to my rescue with the Black Bean Soup and the Sweet Potato soup (but didn't have mangoes on hand and had to sub apples. Still yummy, not as sweet). Can't wait to try this one! Love the blog!Thanks,Jenn

Takes 8-10 hours on low- I made a few modifications using a recipe from The Silver Palate (a great stand by cookbook). The meat/tendons kind of wigged me out so I didn't serve it as a meal. It did, however, make a delicious broth so I trimmed and picked over the meat and froze the broth and the limited meat bits in an ice cube tray. Will be awesome beef flavor for soups and stews. But the amount of time relative to the edible food is not worth it for me. But it definitely works for those times when you have an oxtail lying around.

first night on Pinterest and found this wonderful blog - have a teacher friend that is trying to get recipes for her crock pot for every work day and I'll steer her over here since you've already done them all! I LOVE oxtail soup - lived in Germany for six years and it was a favorite so seeing this recipe has me ready to go shopping! thanks for sharing and getting me "drooling" too...

The addition of the chocolate is genius. Ox-tails are such a great item but unfortunately too expensive in So. Calif because of our large Asian population. Went to a "cheap" local supermarket tonight and they were $5.49 a pound. New York Strip Steak was on sale for $4.99 a pound. Much more waste on the Ox-Tails. As a kid in Canada in the 1940s, the butcher gave them to my Mom to feed to the dog as they were not considered fit for human consumption. When I was older in the 1960s, the local Mexican supermarket used to sell them for 19 cents a pound - the whole tail. If you wanted them cut up by the joint, you'd have to ask the butcher to do that. If not, they'd cut the oxtail into 3 or 4 pieces to fit the butcher paper.Times have changed.Jim in So Calif